Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie

Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie
Release poster
Directed by	Randy Zisk
Written by	Andy Breckman
Produced by	Lena Cordina
Starring	Tony Shalhoub Traylor Howard Jason Gray-Stanford Melora Hardin Héctor Elizondo Ted Levine
Cinematography	Giorgio Scali
Edited by	Elliott Eisman
Music by	Jeff Beal
Production companies	Mandeville Films Andy Breckman Productions Universal Content Productions
Distributed by	Peacock
Release date	December 8, 2023 (2023-12-08)
Running time	97 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English

Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie is a 2023 American comedy-mystery film directed by Randy Zisk. It is a sequel to the USA Network television series Monk, and was written by series creator Andy Breckman. Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford, and Ted Levine reprised their roles as the main characters from the show, while recurring actors Melora Hardin and Héctor Elizondo also appeared. Set twelve years after the series finale, the film follows Adrian Monk, a private detective with obsessive–compulsive disorder and multiple phobias, who comes out of retirement and reunites with his friends to solve a case involving his stepdaughter.

The film premiered on Peacock on December 8, 2023.

Adrian Monk's obsessive–compulsive habits, which subsided after solving the murder of his wife Trudy,^[a] are reignited by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[b] After losing a book deal about his career as a private detective–the money from which he had hoped to use to fund his stepdaughter Molly Evans' wedding–Monk begins to contemplate ending his own life. Monk is reunited with his former assistant Natalie Teeger, now remarried and living in Atlanta, and Randy Disher, now Chief of Police of Summit, New Jersey, for Molly's wedding to journalist Griffin Briggs. Griffin is killed in an apparent bungee jumping accident after accusing billionaire Rick Eden of murdering his partner.

Molly goes to Monk for help and, after some reluctance, Monk decides to take the case. Molly reveals that she overheard someone saying that the rope was "six feet too long". Suspicious that someone would automatically know that, Molly adds that she noticed that the man who said it had white painted fingernails. Knowing that it is a habit for softball players, Randy locates the man, Lucas Kubrick, an employee of Eden's. They further discovered that someone broke into Griffin's workshop, but nothing was stolen.

Monk, Natalie, and Randy go to see Eden and learn that Leland Stottlemeyer is now the head of his security. When Monk confronts Eden over the allegations, Stottlemeyer restrains him as he wants to keep his new job, but Monk notices sticky notes in Eden's office. Soon after, Monk meets with the new head of homicide, Lisa Rudner, who wishes that he rejoin as a consultant, but he politely rebuffs her. Monk tries to speak to Kubrick, but he is told that they are unable to touch him as he has lawyered up. Meanwhile, Stottlemeyer gets footage of Eden with Kubrick, reaffirming Monk's suspicions. Monk speaks with Dr. Bell, who reveals that he retired two months ago and was seeing him out of empathy, where he sees a newspaper clip about a dog shelter that had been threatened by a bomber. He recognizes the writing as Eden's from the sticky notes, and spots Kubrick on a delivery. Realizing that Eden plans to bomb Kubrick, making it look like a failed bomb on the dog shelter, Monk and Natalie attempt to save him, but are too late as Kubrick is killed in an explosion.

Stottlemeyer, finally on Monk's side, reaffirms that Eden is "the guy" and has Monk sneak into Eden's party so that he can steal his laptop which contains vital information. Disguised as a bartender, Monk is caught right away. Eden confesses, but he does not divulge how he murdered Griffin. Monk steals the laptop, but is chased by Eden who pushes him off the cliff. He is rescued by floating on an inflatable doll and reunites with Molly who tells him to give up on the case as she does not want to lose him too. Monk once again begins to think of suicide and heads to a funeral home to look at caskets. When he notices that the twins who own it have slightly different shaped heads, Monk finally puts the case together.

Just as Eden is about to launch off to orbit the earth, Monk and the rest of the team arrive and stop the launch. Monk reveals what happened: Eden had done his research on Griffin who was considered a perfectionist and loved bungee jumping. He had Kubrick break into his workshop and replaced Griffin's tape measure with a new one with the inches slightly off, resulting in it being longer than usual. Griffin measured his cord with a bad tape measure, resulting in his death. Stottlemeyer happily quits and Eden is placed under arrest for the murder of Griffin and his partner. Monk returns to the park to prepare for his suicide, but is visited by the spirit of Trudy who also brings Griffin and the numerous other people whom he helped. One of them is a woman whose case has not been solved yet. Realizing that he has made a difference, Molly gives Monk back his visitor's pass to get him into the precinct. Monk resumes life and decides to become a consultant again.

Later, Natalie adopts a surly dog from the shelter whom she noticed had habits similar to Monk's and gives it to him. Monk smiles at the gesture.

Additionally, Bitty Schram appears as Sharona Fleming via archival footage from the series' pilot episode.

In March 2023, Tony Shalhoub confirmed on Dr. Loubna Hassanieh's Unheard Stories: Stories That Inspire podcast that a 90-minute Monk film was in production.^[2] Soon after, Peacock announced the follow-up film, titled Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie produced by Universal Content Productions.^[3] Original cast members Shalhoub, Ted Levine, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford, Melora Hardin and Héctor Elizondo (who played Adrian Monk, Captain Leland Stottlemeyer, Natalie Teeger, Randy Disher, Trudy Monk, and Dr. Neven Bell, respectively) were confirmed to reprise their roles from the series, with creator Andy Breckman writing the script.^[4]

Principal photography took place in Toronto, Ontario from May 1 to May 30, 2023.^[5]

Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie was released in the United States by Peacock on December 8, 2023.^[6]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 22 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Recapturing much of what made the series great without falling back on empty nostalgia, Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie solves the mystery of how to pull off a satisfying revival."^[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[8]

Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times called the film a "longer-than-necessary version" of the television show but that "it's funny when it wants to be."^[9] Kelly Lawler of USA Today described the film as "a sweet-as-pie (but not too sweet) reunion that captures the tone and spirit of the original show but also feels apt for 2023".^[10]

• Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie at IMDb